The thoughts and perceptions of an aspiring writer on life and the world around her

Tag Archives: Hunger Games

Of course, no musical would be without some romantic duet. In the Hunger Games, we’re all aware that the main relationship is between Katniss and Peeta. Sure Peeta might be deeply in love with Katniss since he was a young boy. This to the point that when he and Katniss are tributes in the Hunger Games, he figures that he stands no chance of winning because there’s no way he’d be able to kill her. So he might as well do what he can so she can survive. Yet, while Katniss certainly does have feelings for him, she’s most likely not aware of it for a good chunk of the series. This is probably because Katniss swore never to marry or have a family and for two very good reasons. First, she doesn’t want to be a parent on Reaping Day, which is self-explanatory. Because if your kid is reaped there’s a 23 to 1 chance that they won’t come back and you’ll have to see them violently die on national television. And there’s nothing you can do about it. Second, when Katniss was 11, her coal miner dad died in an explosion which caused her mom to break down completely that she had to grow up quickly and provide for her family. And it’s because of this, she believes love is a weakness that she’s so reluctant to admit she’s falling in love with Peeta. Even when the two of them start sleeping together during the Victory Tour and Quell training. She also believes that she doesn’t deserve him.

A good song I thought would be a duet for them would be “This Night” by Billy Joel from his Innocent Man album. It’s one of those love songs which is lovely but not very cheesy to the point of annoyance. Besides, it pertains to two people falling for each other even though they decided not to get incredibly serious for fear that they’d screw everything up. In the Hunger Games version, I had it set with the two of them on the beach during the Quarter Quell in Catching Fire which ends with the two sharing a kiss and him telling her that she’s his whole life. And it really seems to them that this might be the last time they’d be together like this.

Note: This post contains spoilers. So if you haven’t read the books up to Mockingjay or seen the movies up to Mockingjay Part 2, then you shouldn’t be viewing it. Even if you’re a die hard Billy Joel fan like my mother.

You have to feel for Peeta who doesn’t seem to catch a break. In the first book, he’s reaped for the Hunger Games the same year the girl he’s been completely head over heels for volunteers to take her sister’s place. And even though he and Katniss survive as victors, he’s utterly heartbroken when he finds out that Katniss was just playing it for the cameras. Add to that suffering PTSD and terrible nightmares. In the second book, he goes into the arena again with Katniss (voluntarily), only to end up captured by the Capitol, where he’s held prisoner through part of the third. During that time, he’s tortured, hijacked, and forced to be a mouthpiece for the Capitol. And when he’s rescued by District 13, he ends up attacking Katniss, which breaks her heart. Later, Alma Coin puts him on the Star Squad in hopes that he’d kill her. Luckily by this point, Peeta has recovered enough from the hijacking that he becomes aware on how much he has changed. Yet, he begins to view himself as a mutt and loathes what he’s become. Fearing that he might hurt Katniss or anyone else, he’s now asking the Star Squad to kill him because he poses a danger to the group as well as doubts whether he could heal. But he keeps going.

As for a song depicting his state of mind at the time, I decided to go with “An Innocent Man” by Billy Joel from the 1980s album of the same name. In the original version, the narrator is telling the girl to give him a chance since he really likes her and thinks love is worth it. But he understands that she’s been broken before, possibly many times. Perhaps to the point she’s suspicious and skeptical of any guy who shows any interest in her. Yet, he insists that he’d never do anything to hurt her and sees no reason why she should distrust him. However, he also tells her that he’s not going to put up with her crap lying down and will dump her if it becomes too much for him. In the Hunger Games version, I have Peeta being skeptical of his own sanity as well as willing to have Star Squad members kill him if he poses too much of a danger. Yet, he also shows the determination to fight off the hijacking and regain his old self, despite his doubts.

Despite being the most significant character in the Hunger Games after Katniss, I barely did any songs for Peeta to do on his own. Mostly because I haven’t come across any. Sure he may not be the Hunger Games contender Katniss is and he was lucky to survive both times. Yet, he was only a burden for Katniss after he got his leg injured. Because he was fighting Cato off while Katniss was in the middle of a tracker jacker hallucination. Not to mention, Peeta’s confessing his love for Katniss on national television helped her get sponsors as well as eventually allowed them both survive. But for some reason, I find it difficult to do a song parody with him singing. Maybe it’s because of the kind of music I like. Maybe it’s due to the fact that some of the song parodies don’t seem to fit his personality. I don’t know. I guess it’s complicated since it’s easy to dismiss Peeta as a useless weakling despite that he’s not. Or think that confessing his love for Katniss was self-serving and naive when it was neither of the sort. After all, he doesn’t feel he has long to live and probably consulted Haymitch on the matter beforehand anyway. And you really can’t make fun of what he went through at the Capitol in Mockingjay. Well, at least when it pertains to him.

In an attempt to make an appropriate song for Peeta, I’ll try with “Belle Isle” by Bob Dylan. It’s one of those beautiful love songs about a guy falling for some maid in a seaside town. But it’s not one of the artist’s best known. For the Hunger Games version, I have Peeta talking about how he’s been stuck on Katniss since they were little kids. And how he was a goner when all the birds outside stopped when she sang the valley song. He told her this when they were in the cave in the first novel.

When it comes to the Hunger Games, you can’t blame the tributes having an emotionally hard time as the Games officially begin. I mean imagine being a teenager who suddenly has to grapple with their inevitable death. Let’s just say you’re better off being either drafted into the military or having a serious illness. Seriously, a teenager has a better chance of surviving a war or cancer than the Hunger Games where the competition is literally deadly. And let’s just say, most teenagers aren’t really prepared to face their own mortality. So it’s not unusual for many of the tributes to be scared. As for Katniss, well, it’s one thing that she had to come close to death in the first Hunger Games. Yet, when she found out about the Quarter Quell being an All-Stars competition, she feels like she doesn’t have much time to live. After all, victors are tougher competition than your peers. Let’s just say she’s facing issues that any normal 17 year old girl shouldn’t be dealing with.

For a good song depicting Katniss agonizing through her own mortality in Catching Fire, I used “Gethsemane” from Jesus Christ Superstar. The original has Jesus praying to God and agonizing about his upcoming crucifixion. You’d think that Jesus knew that he was to suffer a most painful death he’d be more courageous about the whole thing. But it’s not the case, contrary to how biblical movies depict it. After all, facing one’s death is a very scary thing, especially if you’re relatively young. In the Hunger Games version, I have Katniss struggle with a possible death in the arena during the Quarter Quell as well as evaluate how much as changed since she and Peeta won the previous year.

Unbeknownst to Katniss and Peeta as they prepare for the Quell at the training center, Haymitch, Plutarch, and half the victors in it form an alliance and a plan to keep them alive. Not to mention, help kick off the rebellion at full speed. Now you have to think whoever thought of reaping surviving victors must’ve not had their head screwed on just right. Having teenagers killing each other is bad enough. But victors being chosen again for the Hunger Games is just incredibly dumb. I mean these are people who’ve had their lives ruined by the Capitol from the moment many of them were reaped to participate in it. Haymitch for instance, would soon lose his entire family, become an alcoholic, and send 46 tributes to their deaths to entertain the masses. And he’s not an unusual case. Some exceptionally good looking victors are forced into prostitution under threat of their loved ones if they refused like Finnick. Not to mention, the victors tend to be friends with each other, having shared the experiences of brutality. And it’s these ties that help half the victors form a conspiracy with Haymitch and Plutarch.

For a song pertaining to such secret conspiracy, I used “The Last Supper” from Jesus Christ Superstar. The original version depicts Jesus sharing one final meal with his disciples and saying that Peter will deny him and someone else will betray him like Judas Iscariot. It’s a rather dramatic rendition. In the Hunger Games version, I have Haymitch and some of the allied victors discuss their plans to break out of the arena the night before the Quell officially kicks off. I know this scene didn’t take place in the books or movies because victors are on 24 hour surveillance in order to deter insurrections. But when it comes to musical numbers, you can’t have Haymitch and the others communicating through bread. Also, the phrase “jaded mandarin” describes Haymitch perfectly.

In District 12, there’s a place called the Hob which is an old warehouse that serves as a black market. Since hunting is illegal in Panem with stiff penalties, Katniss often sells her game there. Yet, since District 12 is the poorest in Panem with most people struggling to get by or desperately starving, the Peacekeepers are relatively lenient than elsewhere as well as turn a blind eye on poaching and black market trading. Possibly because practically everyone in town does some sort of business at the Hob, including the Peacekeepers. Such arrangement helps Katniss tremendously, since the Peacekeepers are mostly corrupt with their head Cray usually requesting certain favors of a sexual nature. Let’s just say if Katniss didn’t learn to hunt, she would’ve lost her virginity much sooner. Items sold there are poached game, alcohol, and other banned items. Plus, it’s open at times other places won’t be like on Reaping Day or late ate night. Of course, the Capitol can always get new Peacekeepers to torch the place.

For a good song on the Hob, I went with “The Temple” from Jesus Christ Superstar. The original version of this song depicts Jesus chasing out the money lenders and vendors as well as overturning tables in the Temple of Jerusalem. Because you know, these guys turned a house of prayer into a den of thieves which makes Jesus super pissed. In the Hunger Games version, I have it set in Catching Fire in which Gale Hawthorne goes to the Head Peacekeeper’s cabin with a turkey. Unfortunately for him, he finds out the corrupt lecher Cray has been replaced by the hardliner Thread who soon has the Hob torched as well as Gale tied mercilessly whipped on a post that he has to be rescued and treated. I also have the people of District 12 turn to Katniss for help, in which she wants none of that.

Note: This post contains major spoilers. So if you haven’t read the books or saw the movies up to Mockingjay Part 2, best not see this. It might ruin it for you.

As president of District 13, Alma Coin was the defacto leader of the rebellion who set herself to unite the other districts against a common enemy. Then again, she was probably the one who assumed leadership of the rebellion once Katniss accidentally sparked one. And it had more to do with the fact she was the leader of a district that the Capitol pretty much left alone due to a mutually assured destruction pact. Nevertheless, throughout the years, Coin has been there for District 13 thick and thin. Yet, as Alma means soul and a coin has two sides, she’s always had a rather two sided nature. At first she might be the kind of strong competent leader who’d bring Panem to an era of peace and prosperity. But as you get to know her, she’s a power hungry woman who’s willing to do whatever it takes to get what she wants like bombing children and framing it on Snow. Since Prim was killed in the bombings, Katniss is utterly devastated and heartbroken.

As for a song on Coin relishing in her moment of triumph, I decided to go with “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina,” from Evita. It’s the part in the musical when Eva Peron is bearing farewell to the people of Argentina as the country’s first lady. Nevertheless, the musical portrays her in a very negative light akin to one would be if a musical on Barack Obama was based on his Conservapedia page. For the Hunger Games version, I have Coin give her speech on the balcony saying farewell to the people of District 13 as she assumes the interim presidency of Panem. But little does she know….